Fed Staff No Longer Predict U.S. Recession This Year

Staff at the Federal Reserve no longer expect a recession will hit the U.S. this year, Chair Jerome Powell said at a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday. “The staff now has a noticeable slowdown in growth starting later this year in the forecast, but given the resilience of the economy recently, they are no longer forecasting a recession,” he said in the meeting, during which the Fed also raised interest rates a quarter of a percentage point. Staff members produce their own economic forecasts separate from the Committee’s—something Powell said “helps us make—I hope–better decisions.”